When “Busy” Working is Busy Work
When you ask someone, “How are you?” Do you expect the answer to be “Good”? What about “Busy”? Too often lately, I hear “busy,” and as an individual that has lived that busy and therefore important persona most of my professional life, I have learned that being in a state of overwhelm actually reduces productivity.
Psychologist Adam Waytz in his recent article, “Beware a Culture of Busyness”, Harvard Business Review March-April 2023, calls this effort justification. As in, if I work really hard to achieve something, it must be important, even if the task is meaningless. I have observed this culture of overwhelm in many, but not all, middle market companies over the last 20 years. I have been witness to a distinct few that operate with a sense of calmness and focus. It’s noticeable that the employees are productive and engaged. There is lower turnover, and the businesses continue to meet their revenue and profit goals.
But, what about the more common state? The companies that operate in chaos. When you ask the CEO how it’s going, you might get words like “busy” or “stressful,” followed by an offload of grievances about executives missing deadlines or making mistakes. This CEO is frustrated by the lack of growth, innovation, and accountability. As leaders in business, we must understand that a culture of overwhelm and busyness does not lead to happy, thoughtful, and productive employees. At Turning Point, we often say, “Don’t confuse effort with progress.” Achieving goals is our key metric for success.
A company in overwhelm is likely lacking a clear set of goals that define what progress looks like, or the goals they have are not broken down into measurable tasks to be tracked regularly and consistently. In the absence of such goals, or without a structure of accountability, the business might focus on activities that keep it busy, but do not necessarily contribute to achieving its objectives. Employees may feel pressure to get tasks completed quickly, like producing financial results, but the results are not tied to a realistic and achievable business plan. The hurry for visible output outweighs the careful effort that would contribute to long-term success. When a business falls short of an effective goal structure, you can end up with misaligned incentives. For instance, employees are rewarded for completing tasks rather than achieving specific outcomes. Adam Waytz says that “Evaluating employees based on how busy they are is a terrible way identify the most creative and productive talent.”
It’s also often the case that organizations get comfortable knowing that something has “always been done this way.” They forget to question whether the activities are still relevant or effective in the current business environment. As leaders, what steps can we take to create a culture of change, not caught in the Busyness Trap?
First, model the right behavior. If the CEO is visibly overwhelmed, stressed, or frustrated in their interactions, the angst will inevitability trickle down to his or her direct reports, quickly working itself through the entire organization. Neuro-linguistic programming teaches us that words, body language and facial expressions affect behavior. We need to show up to each conversation present and engaged. If we exhibit distraction and frustration, it will trigger anxiety and the tendency for employees to focus on tasks rather than meaningful engagement.
Secondly, we have to distill down goals and objectives into clear deliverables. In her book, Forged in Crisis, Nancy Koehn quotes “Leaders trying to accomplish a worthy mission have to cultivate the ability to identify the one, two, or three essential issues facing them at a given moment. It is never five or ten. It is always one or two—maybe three—issues that really matter.” There are many tools available to help us develop goals and objectives, and communicate, track, and measure them to create a unified organizational focus. It’s imperative that your goals are clear and concise, and aligned to the mission and vision of your company, so that each person has a clear understanding of their purpose and feels inspired to contribute to the collective success of the business. Once your goals are set, they should be organized by team leaders into deliverables and followed up on regularly.
In today’s culture of busyness, rewarding effort rather than progress is detrimental to the health of an organization and its people. Set clear goals, review them faithfully, and align your incentives with accomplishments to ensure that activity is contributing to overall success.
